xvii, 697 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : 27 cm

This guide presents, side by side, materials from ten cultures and traditions. Thus specific beliefs, cults, gods, and ritual practices that arose and developed in Mediterranean religions, of Egypt, Anatolia and the Near East, Mesopotamia, Iran, Greece, and the Roman world, from the third millennium BCE to the fourth century CE are interpreted in comparison with one another, and with reference to aspects that crisscross cultural boundaries, such as Cosmology, Myth, Law and Ethics, and Magic. Written by leading scholars of ancient religion, the essays in this guide sketch the various religious histories, raise central theoretical issues, and examine several individual topics

Includes bibliographical references and index

Encountering Ancient Religions: What is ancient Mediterranean religion? / Fritz Graf -- Monotheism and polytheism / Jan Assmann -- Ritual / Jan Bremmer -- Myth / Fritz Graf -- Cosmology: time and history / John J. Collins -- Pollution, sin, atonement, salvation / Harold W. Attridge -- Law and ethics / Eckart Otto -- Mysteries / Sarah Iles Johnston -- Religions in contact / John Scheid -- Writing and religion / Mary Beard -- Magic / Sarah Iles Johnston. -- Histories: Egypt / Jan Assmann and David Frankfurter -- Mesopotamia / Paul-Alain Beaulieu -- Syria and Canaan / David P. Wright -- Israel / John J. Collins -- Anatolia: Hittites / David P. Wright -- Iran / William Malandra and Michael Stausberg -- Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations / Nanno Marinatos -- Greece / Jon Mikalson -- Etruria / Olivier de Cazanove -- Rome / John North -- Early Christianity / Harold Attridge. -- Key Topics: Sacred Times and Spaces -- Religious Personnel -- Religious Organizations and Bodies -- Sacrifice, Offerings, and Votives -- Prayers, Hymns, Incantations, and Curses -- Divination and Prophecy -- Deities and Demons -- Religious Practices of the Individual and Family -- Rites of Passage -- Illnesses and Other Crises -- Death, the Afterlife, and Other Last Things -- Sin, Pollution, and Purity -- Ethics and Law Codes -- Theology, Theodicy, Philosophy -- Religion and Politics -- Controlling Religion -- Myth and Sacred Narratives -- Visual Representations -- Sacred Texts and Canonicity -- Esotericism and Mysticism

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